I'm not Irish, but I'm a damn good kisser...

[apple_pathways]

Still not eating any sweets, despite my father tempting me with fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies yesterday.

Still not getting much of anything done. (must finish dark fic must finish dark fic must finish dark fic!)

St. Patrick's Day is a strange holiday. It was never anything special when I was a kid. The only person I can remember really making a big deal out of it was our Irish librarian in elementary school, Mrs. Patrick. I was a library aide, and she gave me a bag of green, white, and orange-colored candies.

Even in college, I don't remember the holiday being that widely celebrated, until I made the move to EMU. For some reason, people there celebrated it as a 24 hour binge drinking session. I remember walking to class at 11 am, and seeing drunks dressed in green stumbling down the streets. I was sitting in my statistics course one year (about 3 o'clock in the afternoon) and this girl in the back row kept whining that the teacher should cancel class because it was St. Patrick's Day and she wanted to go to the bar. I finally got so irritated, I turned around and said, "You do realize that we're adults, and if you wanted to you could leave any time?"

She said she didn't want to miss the notes. Well, shut up then!

Today, most of the little kids I tutor came in with stories of Leprechaun hijinks from school. This is something I really don't remember being a part of St. Patrick's Day celebrations!

It started with the little sister of one of my students. She said to me, "Did you know I found two four-leaf clovers at my school?" (I am always charmed by the storytelling tactics of small children. I was tempted to say, "Why yes I did know. I know everything about you!" but I find it wise to be inappropriate and creepy on my own time.) She then told me a story about finding a Leprechaun on the playground.

Her brother then told me he saw a "Ghost Leprechaun" in the bathroom at school, described as "green footprints walking across the floor". Holy shit, when did St. Pat's Day become such a creepy-ass holiday?!

At another boy's school someone put green dye in the toilets, and in a little girl's classroom a "leprechaun" came in and stole someone's green backpack at lunch.

Now: I am a general non-believer and all-around spoilsport, but does anyone else find this a little odd? I understand a lot of adults have fanciful ideas about the "magic of childhood", but at what point are you just implanting delusions in the minds of impressionable youth?

Comments

[jinxed-wood.livejournal.com]

I'm still trying to figure out what a Leprechaun has to do with Paddy's Day?

It's a bank holiday here, so everyone has the day off. There's a HUGE parade in Dublin, which would have more in common with a Mardi Gras parade than the marching parades you'd usually find in the U.S. - although, every year, there are always a few bewildered looking U.S. majorette high schoolers in the line up! The celebrations also usually go on for a few days, with fireworks and funfairs etc.

Drinking goes on, but we keep the creepy Leprechaun stories for Halloween :-P

[inkdancer.livejournal.com]

I have always liked St Patrick's day. It was a thing people did, but it wasn't a huge deal- people wore a bit of green, and the teachers used it as a chance to teach a bit of Irish history.

I don't understand where all the leprechaun stuff has come from. It's hardly relevant to the day, and tbh I think it's a little ridiculous. I'd be happy to read my kids stories featuring leprechauns, but... having them in school? Really?

(To be fair, my mom was always even weirder than what other kids learned. When my school taught me about Santa, whom she had never introduced to me, she told me he was Jesus' mailman.)

[ladylovelace.livejournal.com]

I don't think anyone's doing any harm giving the kids a little magic. They've got to grow up and be told that there's no such thing soon enough, and I sincerely doubt that it'll scar them for life to learn that just like Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and a dozen other mythical creatures, there are also no Leprechauns.

And/or that Leprechauns are not nice, whichever comes first.

Childhood is the only time you get to tell stories like that without having them branded with a big ol' "FANTASY" stamp. I miss that, and I think the unfair part in all of it is that at some point, someone is going to explain to these kids that grownups don't believe in magic, so they'll spend their early teenage years thinking that grownups are the most miserable bastards on the face of the Earth.

I suspect this will be altogether too Philosophical for me in the morning, but my favourite part of working with kids was their imagination, and watching it work. I always hated it when the older ones wouldn't make things up for creative writing because they weren't true :(

[javidan.livejournal.com]

These stories are sounding seriously creepy. What's wrong with kids these days?

I tried to take my sons out for nachos this evening and just as I was faced with NO PARKING ANYWHERE I realized oh, stupid, it's St. Patrick's Day. I live in a village for goodness sakes, but everyone's out getting trashed at 6pm, lol.

[bwblack.livejournal.com]

Yeah that's weird. Most into St. Patrick's day they ever got when I was in school was the grade who wore the most green won a pizza party. And that was a crazy year.

Still have to do darkfic as well.. but my age fic for Thegameison_sh is sitting for a couple of days before reread/edit.

But my darkfic is almost done... MR. H. Craziness is fun!

[ravelled-ribbon.livejournal.com]

The ghost leprachaun I cannot decide if I find it creepy or awesome. Though I would tell them leprechauns aren't nice because I believe in giving children the real unsanitised versions of things, they like them better anyway!

We never celebrated it at school or anything like that. My Mum sometimes threw a joint party for it and her birthday but that was just my Uncles coming round, us all spending a day eating and drinking and listening to loud music, then my Dad making all the hungover grown ups fried breakfast in the morning while I quietly laughed at them and enjoyed my hangover free breakfast (I do not get those, it is nice, though I think maybe the migraines are cosmic payback). We'd have potato bread with the fry up and there would be some Pogues on the playlists but that would be it really.

Its bigger up here and my favourite bit was when we met a bunch of Irish guys over from Dublin specially for St Patrick's day, wearing huge green top hats with Shamrocks on. Because really, why? If you live in Dublin what's Edinburgh got for St Patrick's that you haven't?

[rewindclunkplay.livejournal.com]

boycotted St. Patrick's day this year. And no, it has nothing to do with my spending March 18th last year with my head buried in a toilet, nor does it have to do with me handing out bread to men at the pub or making out with my gay best friend. Not at all.

[tierfal.livejournal.com]

Haha, oh dear. In kindergarten there were leprechaun footprints around the classroom when we walked in, but I think that's the only time it's ever been a big deal for anything. I know most people use it as an excuse to get drunk and perpetuate antiquated and possibly offensive stereotypes about the Irish, but I mostly associate it with struggling to remember to wear green so no one will be a dick and pinch me. I got pinched one year for wearing teal, because it was the greenest thing I had. :|

So yeah, apparently… abuse, alcoholism, and lying to children. ST. PATTY FTW.

but I find it wise to be inappropriate and creepy on my own time
This made me lol. XDDDD

[gahdzuks.livejournal.com]

I don't remember anything like that from when I was a kid, though I do recall that there was a haunted restroom in my elementary school. But I live in the south, and there generally are not a large number of Irish immigrants in the area.

The new creepiness of the holiday can probably be blamed on pop culture. We're heavily into vampires and werewolves and ghosts at the moment, so the kids are going to naturally implement those wherever the heck they want to. I wouldn't be surprised if you hear about Easter Bunnies attacking people and stealing their pastel bookbags.

[tourdefierce.livejournal.com]

It's huge here. They celebrate it for a week. It starts the WEEKEND BEFORE the holiday and goes through the weekend after. It's fucking insane here in Boulder, for absolutely no reason at all.

Children telling stories is fucking ADORABLE.

[(Anonymous)]

It seems to have turned into a bit of a binge drinking day here (GB) as well. I have no problem with it but I don't understand why it has become such a big thing - after all, this is not Ireland!

I don't recall such big celebrations ever taking place on St George's day...

Or maybe I'm just cranky because it is also my birthday and I've had enough of people asking why I'm not called Patrick!

Stewart

[plumeriandeity.livejournal.com]

LOL leprechaun hijinks.

As someone who didn't hear about this holiday until I was about 13, St. Pat's Day means only one thing to me: boozing spectacularly. I mean, not to ME personally, but that's what the holiday represents itself as to me.

Your college story was hilarious. We always had spring break during St. Pat's day (but apparently not anymore because UIUC decided to move spring break week after St. Pat's day...hmm). We used to have "Unofficial," which was always two weeks before St. Pat's Day and involved all the students at the uni getting drunk all day. The first two years I luckily missed it because I wasn't on campus. Junior year I was at work in the morning and the rest of the day I spent in the comfort of my apartment. And senior year, I annoyingly had to deal with the drunks on campus. SO IRRITATING.

I never knew the holiday to be so creepy either. People dressed up as leprechauns stealing kids' stuff? Ghost leprechauns? I know leprechauns are supposed to be mischievous but that's just weird.

How old are the kids that you tutor? I'm never amazed by how "old" kids seem these days. We were never like that when we were kids!